Wine, especially vintage wine, is typically bottled in glass bottles as the last phase of the winemaking process. The wine bottle is sealed with an appropriate closure, which may be, for example, a natural or synthetic cork or a screw-top closure. The wine bottle is opened by removing the cork or screw-top closure. When the bottle is opened, air from the external atmosphere enters the bottle. As wine is poured from the bottle for consumption, more air enters the bottle, replacing the wine removed from the bottle.
The introduction of air into the opened wine bottle for a relatively short period of time, such as several hours, for example, is usually not significant. Relatively brief exposure of newly opened wine to oxygen in the air can improve its organoleptic properties. But often, when the entire bottle of wine is not consumed in several hours, for example, but merely closed with the cork, screw-top or other closure member and stored for a period of time, such as overnight, for a day, week or even longer. Storage of a partially consumed bottle of wine in this manner is usually deleterious to the remaining wine. This is because oxygen from the air that has been introduced into the bottle reacts with the wine, adversely affecting the wine's organoleptic properties noticeably over time, sometimes in a day or less. These deleterious effects usually become more noticeable as more time passes before the remainder of the wine is consumed, and can render the wine “undrinkable” by ordinary standards.
Some people may prefer to store a partially consumed bottle of wine with an inert or other atmosphere in the bottle instead of air or a relative vacuum.
A need exists for improved devices and methods for storing partially consumed bottles of wine so that the deleterious effects of oxygen in the bottle can be substantially reduced. A need also exists for a system and method that economically and efficiently allows one to provide an inert gas or other desired gas in place of air or a vacuum.